LEXICAL SEMANTICS: SENSE RELATIONS

Lexical semantics is the study of the meaning of words, and the systematic meaning-
related connections between words. In this chapter we shall be looking at some relations
between words that are of a semi-logical kind, those that are, on a narrow interpretation,
sense relations. A (word) sense is the locus of word meaning; definitions and meaning
relations are defined at the level of the word sense rather than word forms as a whole.
Bank
1
: nancial institution
Bank
2
: sloped ground near water

A. Some Simple Logic
Philosophers and logicians are among the first people to study meaning, as we
mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. While traditional grammarians were
more concerned with word meaning, philosophers have been more concerned
with sentence meaning. In this sub-section, we introduce some of their basic
ideas, especially the concepts in propositional logic and predicate logic.
Propositional Logic
Propositional logic, also known as propositional calculus or sentential calculus, is the
study of the truth conditions for propositions: how the truth of a composite proposition is
determined by the truth value of its constituent propositions and the connections between
them. According to J. Lyons (1977: 141-2), "A proposition is what is expressed by a
declarative sentence when that sentence is uttered to make a statement." In this sense, we
may very loosely equate the proposition of a sentence with its meaning.
A very important property of the proposition is that it has a truth value. It is either true
or false. And the truth value of a composite proposition is said to be the function of, or is
determined by, the truth values of its component propositions and the logical connectives
used in it. For example, if a proposition p is true, then its negation ~ p is false. And if p is
false, then ~ p is true. The letter p stands for a simple proposition; the sign-, also written as
, is the logical connective negation; and ~ p, signaling the negation of a proposition, is a
composite proposition. There are four other logical connectives: conjunction &, disjunction
, implication and equivalence . They differ from negation in that two propositions are
involved, hence the name two-place connective. In contrast, negation ~ is known as one-
place connective. The truth tables for the two-place connectives are as follows:
p q p & q p q p q p q
T T T T T T
T F F T F F
F T F T T F
F F F F T T
As is shown, propositional logic, concerned with the semantic relation between
propositions, treats a simple proposition as an unanalyzed whole. This is inadequate for the
analysis of valid inferences like the syllogism below:
ex All men are rational
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is rational.

Predicate Logic
In this logical system, propositions like Socrates is a man will be analyzed into two
parts: an argument and a predicate. An argument is a term which refers to some entity about
which a statement is being made. And a predicate is a term which ascribes some property,
or relation, to the entity, or entities, referred to. In the proposition Socrates is a man,
therefore, Socrates is the argument and man is the predicate. In logical terms, this
proposition is represented as M(s). The letter M stands for the predicate man, and s the
argument Socrates.
a. Hyponymy
If B is a hyponym of A, then the meaning of B is a special case of A.






Hyponymy describes hierarchical relations between terms. If we can say that X
is a kind of Y, a hyponymous relationship exists between X and Y. The two
examples below illustrate this kind of connection.
color

blue red green yellow purple white black

cook

toast boil fry grill roast bake microwave

In the examples, the terms color and cook are superordinates, while the words
listed below them are their hyponyms.


A
B
b. Synonymy
Synonymy is the degree of sameness (in regards to meaning) that two terms
share. Natural languages afford fairly little space for complete synonyms (that
would not be economical) and accordingly, small meaning differences exist.
Buy and purchase are an example for two near-complete synonyms. In purely
semantic terms, both words mean the same thing, but their use depends on the
context they are used in. Purchase is likely to be used in slightly more high-
brow language, whereas buy is the more common (in both senses of the word)
variant.
There are at least five ways in which they can be seen to differ synonyms.
First, some sets of synonyms belong to different dialect of the language.
For instance, the term fall is used in The United States and in some
western countries of Britain where others would use autumn.
Secondly, there is a similar situation, but a more problematic one, with
the word that are used in the different style. Gentleman, man and chap,
pass away, die and pop off. These are more difficult to deal with because
there is a far less clear distinction between the styles than between the
geographically defined dialects.
Thirdly, some words way be said to differ only in their emotive or
evaluative meaning. Some semantics have made a great play with the
emotive difference between politician and statesman, hide and conceal,
liberty and freedom.
Fourthly, some words are collocation ally restricted, they occur only in
conjunction in other words. Thus, rancid occurs with bacon or butter,
addled with eggs or brains. This does not seem to be a matter of their
meaning, but of the company they keep.
Fifthly, in this obviously the case that many words are close in meaning
overlap. There is, that is to say, a loose sense of synonym. This is the
kind of synonym that is exploited by the dictionary maker. For mature
(adjective), for instance, possible synonyms are adult, ripe, perfect, and
due. For govern we may suggest direct, control, determine, require,
while loose (adjective) will have an even larger set inexact, free,
relaxed, vague, lax, unbound, inattentive, slack.

c. Antonymy
Antonyms are binary opposition pairs such as happy unhappy, tall short,
young old, war peace. Their decisive quality is that the meaning of one term
automatically excludes the other someone who is tall is not short and someone
who is unhappy is not happy. If A is an antonym of B, then A means the
opposite of B. Antonyms can be gradable or non-gradable, depending on
whether or not.
Non-gradable antonymy (complementarity)
Gradable antonymy (contrary)

Non-gradable antonymy
e.g. married vs. single
if married then not single and
if single then not married
dead vs. alive
over vs. under
Gradable antonymy (Gradable pairs (typically adjectives) : meanings are relatively
subjective. It may depend on context.
e.g. big vs. small, tall vs. short, cute vs. ugly, etc.
The meanings of gradable antonymy can be further modified. For comparative and
superlative forms: tallest, cuter, etc.
Modify with quite, very, etc. : really cut